


Rocks and Ruins

by Pey119



Series: Works from inspirations that I won't update regularly but will eventually finish but needed out of my drafts before they were deleted [2]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, RIORDAN Rick - Works, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan, The Trials of Apollo - Rick Riordan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - No Gods (Percy Jackson), Alternate Universe - Royalty, Betrayal, F/M, M/M, Tangled AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-23
Updated: 2021-01-23
Packaged: 2021-03-17 15:53:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,497
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28727655
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pey119/pseuds/Pey119
Summary: tbh inspired by tangled the series don't judge~~Getting used to life outside the tower was harder than he expected, but Jason's got friends by his side. Nico and Percy, and then his girlfriend Piper, they all help. But then the black rocks show up.
Relationships: Annabeth Chase/Percy Jackson, Jason Grace/Piper McLean
Series: Works from inspirations that I won't update regularly but will eventually finish but needed out of my drafts before they were deleted [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2016560
Comments: 1
Kudos: 4





	Rocks and Ruins

NIGHTMARES were the only dark things left in Jason's life.

_This particular one started as they always did, back in the tower. His hair, its bright yellow, his fake father, his lies. He stood at the window, looked at the lanterns rising in the distance._

_Then they went dark._

_Hades was standing before him where seconds before was the window, those bottomless eyes dark as night, his skin sagging and decaying, peeling off his skull._

_The flesh fell to the floor, and then he was in his room in the castle, but the flesh was still there._

_"Jason!"_

_He turned and saw Nico fall to his knees, those dark eyes full of pain and fear, his own flesh starting to peel from his face. And those eyes...sparkling just like his..._

_The room trembled and shook, pieces of the ceiling falling around them. Black rocks shot up from all angles, and Piper...oh gods, Piper stabbed through by one of them..._

"Jason!"

Jason shot up in his bed and looked around the room. Nothing remained from what he saw in his dream, not the rocks nor Piper's blood, or the flesh from the two men. His room was like it always was: too large, too airy, too cold. Hard floors and no rugs. Windows that took up the walls. Nico standing near the door like he always did.

"Nico..."

"Another nightmare?"

Jason nodded and wiped the sweat off his head. He threw the blankets off, frowned at his trembling body. "They shouldn't get to me like this. They're just dreams."

Nico closed the large door before moving to sit at the end of Jason's bed. His voice was low, steady, too serious.

"Were the rocks in it again?"

"Yeah."

"Piper dying?"

"Yup."

"Me as that man that took you?"

"Nico..."

"No, I get it, my eyes are like his..." Nico frowned. "I hate it, but I get what your subconscious is doing with it. I'm more worried about the rocks. If anyone finds out I snuck you out of Roma, your dad will have my head."

"No, he won't, and nobody will find out," Jason promised. "But I want to find out why my hair's back. Maybe if we tell Piper-"

" _No_ ," Nico declined. "We aren't telling her. He'll find out."

"Nico, I want to know-"

"Then we can figure it out. Together. Without anyone's help." Nico held his hand out. "You trust me, don't you? I already have a plan."

* * *

Nico Ramirez-Arellano was as cool as his adoptive name in Jason's mind. He had always been there since he was returned to Roma, chosen to help him get used to the royal life. What Jason had learned over the weeks was that he had been adopted at age six by the chief of the national guard, Bellona Ramirez-Arellano, and that he had been raised to protect the royal family. Because of their close ages, he was chosen as Jason's guide and protector.

But that was it. He didn't speak about himself much, didn't like to open up or trust. He always stood to the side, as silent and cold as the statues that lined the palace hallways, was overlooked just as such.

Jason hated to admit it, but he found himself overlooking the dark-haired boy himself. Everything was just so _new._ The books, the many rooms, the gardens...then his once-thieving girlfriend Piper, and her old thieving partner Percy, and his mother. They all stayed in his focus while Nico seemed to move through the shadows.

But that's just who Nico was, so different than the white robes he was forced to wear, and Jason didn't think twice about it, just accepted that as who he was.

"What's his name, again?" Jason asked.

Nico didn't look up from the map in his pale hands. "Leo. He's the only known sorcerer nearby. He might know what the black rocks are and why they changed your hair back to its yellow healing state."

"And if he's dangerous?"

"I'm more than capable of protecting us."

"Not against magic."

"I don't believe in magic."

"Then why are you taking me to a _magician_?"

Nico pinched the bridge of his nose. "Because magicians are people who use science without letting anyone know. These rocks...he might know why they're outside the walls."

"And if he doesn't? Who do we go to next?" Jason asked. "If we can't tell anyone what we did?" He paused. "You know, Piper and Percy have been everywhere. They might have seen them before..."

"We're not telling them!"

"You know, I'm supposed to be the leader here," Jason offered up. 

"If you don't want your dad to kill me, you won't tell."

"For the last time, he won't kill you-"

"Whatever, we're coming up to Old Roma."

Old Roma was on the outskirts of the royal city-state, pressed up against the 40-foot walls. The buildings did indeed look as old as the walls, made of crumbling concrete, some sporting water mills while others hosting gardens. What neither of them expecting to see while walking into the area was more of those black rocks.

"They're in the city," Jason mumbled. "Nico, they're _in_ Roma. We...we need to tell dad-"

Nico grabbed his arm before he could turn around. "We're talking to Leo first."

" _Nico_ -"

"Don't you trust me?"

Jason felt all fight drain out of him. "Yeah, I trust you. We...fine, we'll talk to Leo first."

They stepped into Leo's workshop with Nico's sword out but no other protection. There were machines everywhere, filling up workbenches and tables, clogging the doorways and walls. A raccoon sat on one of the many stray parts, chewing on what used to be a banana, or what Jason hoped used to be a banana. 

"Don't get near it," Nico warned. "They carry diseases that princes shouldn't get."

"It's not going to bite him, as long as you two don't cause any trouble."

Before Jason could see who spoke, Nico was between them with his sword up. On the other side of the room was a boy no older than Jason, with curly hair and impish features. Goggles were pulled up on his head like some people wore reading glasses, and the large chainsaw in his hands almost hid his apron from view.

"You're Leo?" Nico asked, voice cold. That cold voice Jason still hadn't gotten quite used to. "The magician?"

"Leo? Yes. Magician? No." Leo hefted the chainsaw on a nearby table, causing the raccoon to jump and scamper away. "Oh, sorry Amigo."

"You named your raccoon Amigo?" Jason asked.

"I told you magicians weren't real," Nico muttered. "It's just an act."

"No, no, no, it's a _rumor_ ," Leo corrected. "But I," he gestured to himself. "Am a mechanic and alchemist of the most _top-notch_ level." 

Nico put his sword back in its sheath before gesturing to one of the black rocks coming through the walls. "The rocks. What do you know about them?"

"So _that's_ why you're here." Leo started tinkering with one of the many machines. "What do you want to know about them?"

"Anything that you know is helpful," Jason admitted. "They're encroaching in on Roma. How long have they been in Old Roma?"

"A couple of days, now." Leo shrugged. "But that's all I know."

"Are you fuc-"

"Nico," Jason cut in. "Play nice."

"If we just came all this way for not _one_ clue on your hair-"

"His hair?" Leo looked to Jason. "I thought you wanted to know about the _rocks_."

Jason held up the long braid he had controlled his hair in. "I touched the rocks and my hair grew back. And it grew back _indestructible_."

"We can't cut it," Nico continued. "We can't...we can't do _anything_ to it. It doesn't just have healing properties anymore. Its more protective than anything I've ever seen."

Leo held his hands out. "Let me test it."

"Did you not just hear what I-"

"Here." Jason walked over to Leo so the braid was within the mechanic's reaching distance. "We'd really appreciate it if you could figure out a way to cut it."

"Or, better yet, if you could tell us why him touching them made the hair grow back," Nico said.

" _That's_ how your hair grew back?"

Nico and Jason both turned to the doorway they had entered from, Nico's sword back out and clashing against Jason's hair, making a _sound_ he hadn't heard in any other way. There was just something about his hair that was so unique, unique enough that all sounds associated with it were unique, too.

Infamous ex-thieving partners Percy and Piper were standing in the doorway, Percy's black horse seen in the hallway behind them. Piper had her hands on her hips, and Percy just looked downright confused.

"Why didn't you tell me?" she asked.

Nico didn't put his sword down, nor did he look anywhere close to. "Shut your trap. You never saw a thing."

"Like hell, I didn't."


End file.
